Trolley base



E. S. LINCOLN TROLLEY BASE Mar, 6, 1923. 1,447,217

' Mar. 6, 1923. 1,447,217

E. S. LINCOLN TROLLEY B F1 .1 ed Apr. 5, 1922 2 sheetswheat 2 anemia which, are automatic in thei 'loperationand Patented Mar. 6, 1923.

EL IS; s; I COLN; on wumsmnnn; 0310'; ASSIGNOR,TOV'THJ onto;senss' ceivign v zy TROLLEY' BASE;-

Application filed Anrgilz, 1922. Serial No. 549,805.

. lessfi 'olley or trolley bus operation.

T such ope 'etioh the fe arecertainycon r. dit-ionsn et with which are not found in the oljchgialry opepz ticn .of street. cnrs which fol low a .fi xedpeith with respectito the. tpclley wire [as detennined'hy the. t1'acl;. One Of the-conditions is that. the ti'clley peolge, and current collector used foi conveying the cur; rentfrom the trolley Wire" to the can must be capable otmaintainingits contact with the tiiolley wii'e rege dless etthe lz tteiial dis-v tanqe .be'tweenthetrglley wire and thebiis within, such .liinits asfa r e, -defined by' the: lengthof the trolley p leQ Such "opeigaticn nialy mean that the pi'qjected"horizontal. angle between the. axis; cf the trolley; Pele, andethe longiti' difnalia'xisjcii. the car ma be as much is deggees. In OthQLZ WQ lQlS the, trolley p' le may switchtomonet side. of f the. longitudinal centeiy line of. theicares much h s (io tl eglfees and in fsomejcases p,'cs sil})lyjmore, butthe gifeaterthe anglefthe gi eafter v\vill b 'e the difficulty of maintaining the. cur entcQL- le'ctor iii ccnta'ctrwiththe trolley wirean d it 'is fo'r this. reasonthfit I-have deyised ways and fneans of bj'ercoming thiSjdiffichlty.

extremely simple; and, which I she ve more clearly set forth "and diselggsed heyeinaf ter;

\Vhen a moving ehicle to. which the trolley p le and current collector are attached is mO ing Qbel W andfdirectly in line with the trolley wirethei e is no; n or nt lly acting force, tending te' disengage the current 'colglecte'n from the trolley Wire of sufficient magni tude tohe taken into acceunh Practically the only force of 'a ny meg nitudeisthzttofi; the. upward pressure of the current collectjoir: uo'i inst j'the' under side of the tifo'llejy wire which is counteracted by an equal downwn dj force item the trolley ireeandhslcng as,

h l yibu vis. oper ingm juste'de er bedi this force. is .not one likelyltoccztuse the cpl; lBG tOlhtO leave the trolley Wire. .eVlfihen hcweven, the trolley ibus isloperz ted to one. side;

ofithetrolley Wire and the peleis th nning; 60

an. gle With .bOth' e lr ey h e wel he Wire, there .isa fonce; tendingt tp, cause the current collector to lee ve the u ire acting in e rearward direction .due -to.- the if ictiqn'hetween the wheelandlthewine. Theneislelsoi v a force in thesa he. direction due.tclf the ivvin d pressure against the ferwapd face of the trolley pole which depends upon'the rela:

tive speed: of. the; car i i ithgregardl to {the wind andIthe expqsedfarezi of the tfdll eyz, 7O

pclei andfcurlentl collect on. Theife isifalso due to variations in the speed 6f thegfce li, a force necessary: to overccme the momentum in the pole. Allef these. fo'i jces'ein dlp 'osibly others are acting in the, "seinefdi 'ection and 7 5 are, therefore, accumulative and 1 are veyy" difficult to calculate," but nevertheless. it, is ell known and! 'c'a'n'. be seen that such .fo'rees exist, 'It will "a1so, be;seen that,

these tci ceeiare-g qeatei' with, the "neetfepeo angle formed between the 't'ro'lle'y 'poj e, and the carin a ho rizcntel di ectionandg t 'e y eepe ihi ds? w ountemet these forces, sheu-ld he eof. such fa; jc heiztcter as to automatically"incre'ese as the angle;loe'- tn'reen theftitolley pole and car increeses, With my invention coL- ntei eeting force's'are created which, au tenmtically" increase "ztsthe angle between the cap and the pcle increeses.

The meens I emplcyin creating counte i y acting force consists of gmvity acting u pen the. trolley polefand also the spring tension. tending t0,1nainte' ii 1 the currentccl lectqi in centactwith the trolley wirefAllfof these elenjients are present in 'any: cflthe crdinttiy typ s trelly'hasee', pc les endcellectens; at the presentttirhe, and 'toi inake "uselot thesev ele inent s I 'find that :it; isibnlj necesj sal'y te incline .thehxisi of. th'e"bas e"at the vehiclejoef ,lstnd hbcut which anis thejhese rotgites in 21, feiwar d 'di e'ction oi the uppeifendof the axis 1s inchned n the 'd i ection in which the vehicle mcves; By inclifning the axis of th base frbni a pehpendicillifj which is the ordinaiy practice so,".thdt' th" upper end ofthe aXfisjisinclihdin the dime-- ticn in which the vehicle moves; I am ablettoj create two forces acti'ngthe saiiie die-eetion and are. theretore accuniuhftivegfl and between the vehicle and the trolley pole increases. In fact the forces created by in clining the axis of the base just described are zero when the trolley pole is trailing behind the vehicle and in line with the axis of the movement of the car, but they ar a maximum when the pole is thrown around at right angles to the directions in which the vehicle is moving.

It is possible for me to use many of the type of trolley bases, poles and current collectors employing a spring for urging the trolley pole to rise by merely inclining the axis of the base about which it rotates as described above. It will be seen from this statement, more fully disclosed later, that this is a very simple means of accomplishing the results secured.

Therefore, my invention resides in the novel relation of the trolley base with rcspect to the vehicle to which it is secured.

In the drawings accompanying the specification Fig. 1 is a side view of a trolley base in combination with a vehicle having the axis of the trolley base inclined as described above.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the lower portion of the base shown in Fig. 1 which further shows the means whereby the inclination of the axis of the base may be varied.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view represent ing a base secured to a vehicle and the pole assuming various angles with the longitudinal center line of the vehicle from zero to 90 degrees.

Fig. 4 shows the plotting of the counter balancing forces already described which are the result of my invention or discovery.

Fig. 5 is a developed view of the path which the current collector tends to take relative to the trolley wire.

If when the trolley pole coincides with the 90 degree line in Fig. 3 and the current collector is at the height of the trolley wire and the pole is then fixed with relation to its base so that it cannot swing upwardly and if the pole and base are then rotated about the axis shown in Fig. 1 until the pole coincides with the zero position in Fig. 3, the current collector will have described a path with respect to the trolley or the horizontal as shown by the curve in Fig. In other words if the base and pole arranged as just described the current collector starts at the same height as the trolley wire on the 90 degree line when it has rotated around to the zero line the current collector will be the height above the trolley wire indicated by Fig. 5. Before going into further details in regard to the forces I will describe a preferred form of construction to bring about the results I secure.

In Fig. 1 is shown a trolley base mountled upon a vehicle 1 which is arranged to move in the direction indicated by the arrow. The trolley base mounted thereon comprises sub-base 2 secured to the vehicle by means oi the bolts or other fastening 3. Pivotally secured to the sub-base :2 by the hinge pin t is a platform 5. The platform 5 may be raised or lowered at one end about the hinge l by means of the threaded member 6 pivotally secured to the sub-base 2 by means of the hinge T. The platform 5 is held at any height by means of the threaded nuts 8--8 mounted on the threaded stud 6.

Secured to the platform 5 by means of the bolts 9 is the trolley base proper which is provided with a pedestal 10 and a turret 11 mounted thereon to rotate about the axis AA of the pedestal. Pivotally secured to the turret 11 by means of the hinge 12 is a trolley arm 12 to which is secured trolley pole 13. To the outer end of the trolley pole is secured a trolley collector It provided with a trolley wheel 15 adapted to engage the trolley wire T and to rotate about a horizontal pin 16 and mounted on a member 17 adapted to rotate about its vertical axis BB. It will be obvious that the rotation of the trolley wheel about the vertical axis BB is important in order that the wheel may aline with the trolley wire regardless of the movement of the vehicle to one side or the other of the center line of the trolley wire.

To the trolley arm 12 is secured a spring 18 by means of the threaded bolt 19 and nut 20. The opposite end of the spring is secured to the turret through the medium of the end 21. The tension of the spring 18 may be adjusted by the nut 20 and the spring is constantly urging the upward movement of the trolley pole.

With the construction just described it will be evident that it will be possible to vary the inclination of the axis AA which will permit the force, which I will call the gravity force, tending to rotate the pole and base about its inclined axis, due to gravity, to be varied and the means -for varying the tension on the spring 18 permits the pressure of the current collector against the trolley wire T to be varied and which effects the magnitude of the other counteracting force to be later described, and which I call the spring force.

It will also be evident to most anyone that the inclination of the axis AA can be broughtabout in any instance where a trolley base is mounted upon a vehicle with its axis perpendicular by merely raising the trailing end of the base and securing it in a raised position as by a shim. I do not, however, know of any such construct-ion having been used and the same would be within the scope of my invention as the same forces would be produced in the same way as by the means shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and just described. a The arrangement whicl rl I show,

'ho-weyeig ha s'the aclt ant'a'ge that the angle-o1 "inclination" o fthe a'jiis rk-Awan be very readily altered to changethe tore-es.

In theoperaticn o f-my device it will be readily understood t1 as lon-g as the axis of the pole is i n lin'e W1 1 ti e-longitudinalaxis of the car an cl as-ln caterl b upon the; pole has no counteracting force of equal magnitude and that the pole'will tend through the force of gravity acting upon it, to m'oyefurther tothe right and so on until it" has-moved through 180 degrees-milien it will again be equilihriirm. Assuming the weight of; the pole upon-Which the-- forceof gravity acts as QO pounds' and assumingthe angle which the inclined axis A-A makes with the vertical as 1-0 dcgreesthen the gravity force,- asl have terineclit; acting upon the't'rolley pole' ftounowe it about-the axis of'the base-"Will vary in accordance with the curve in 'Fi g; '4 marked gravity force.- It will be seen-that thisforceis-"zero Whenthe axis of the poleis in a trailing pos-i tion'and that it becomes a maximum "when the pole is at 90 degrees to the longituclinal axis} of the vehicle as shoWIrby-"thecurye assuming a horizontal position;at this point.

It will be evident that if the axis A-A is exactly perpendicular" thatthere will be no tendency for the pole to moveaabout its axis, therefore, by inclining tile-axial have "been able to create a orce due to gravity acting-upontl ie trolley poletend in'g to: move wthe'p'ole a' l vout itsa'az-is in the" direction in which the vehicle is moving. The spring force"whichI have mentioned is created through 1 the tendency of the pole to rise ahove the trolley wire'as it moves -iz'ro n a 90 degree position in :i-gI 3 a1round to the zero position; and' iarview ofthe'fact also that this-tendency to iise -i's against the tension of the spring-18. The' resu l-t is that o-f moving a Weight the equi valent oii the spring tension through a certain-heigl'it as indicated by the curvein Fig; 5" for any; angular positiono-f the pole-relative to theix' ehicl'e.

The curve :as shownin Fig. 5 as -a lre'ady stated isthe developed path whi'ch. the current collector tends to take in starting from the 90 degree point and movi ng aroundto the zero point and this: path is relative to i 1 ni'oyi n rection of the r I at from re's'olvin th'e' 'suanni ationforce' nto -tscomponent element aslnchcated hy -the trolley" base torwar'dly "direction! of'th'e vehicle as previously must 11love down ard lqy about-thee as formedby- "the angle which thep ole makes w th the yehicle is as indicated-by tli'e currve shon in Fig-L The -1oWaringotthe trolle pol'e rel atiye to the -trolleybasefor its axis at any point is 'theequivalent, of y Weight. of 30-pounds throughia -vertical clistanceindicated: by and along incli-nectpl ane 'Whose in' I r correspondswith that of the curve. Such force when a'l'otted I i'or' iv the various points between zero-,and QG degrees-was sh'oiwni iri w1l=l-reswlt m the curve shown-n g l marked tension sprlng force.

'llh e summation of the-gravity force and spring tens-ionforce is shown; by the curve" so-niarkecl imFi lg and i-t wil l be seen that F1gJ-3. This summation force actsv at right angles to the trolley polezand in the directioirindacate'cl hy the arrow on Fig. 3'1"Ilhis dfcrcexat any point ha'sua component fiorce acting in a forward direction Which is cou=n- --ter" to thevarious'f'foi ces mentioned earlier ill-4311 16 ;SpQC1fi Cl11iIT1,- and which tend-t0 throw-the current collector from the contriangle of fOrGeeinFi g-L Itfw'vil l be "quite obvious that?! have discovered that by inclining the -ax-isc f-the ith respect to the described; that I- am I able to create: two fo-ices acting int he' same-"direction at right angles to thed' irecti'on oat tl ie -po'l'e -at any of its-an; gular positionsrelative to? the car and that -such lor'ces hat'ea component acting inthe direction in which theyeh-icle is moving-it will also he obvious that these forces, w-hich I haveter ned gravity force and tension spring" force; may" he 1 each varied, namely;

1 the gravity andspri-ngfforce' by altering the .5 lllQ- llli21351031 10f the (axis :of the {base and v the tension spring 5 ce hy alteringl the tension of the sp ra or 18.

r Ivi-ng set i covery and the means for putting trolley'fb'ase' 7 provided. with law pedestal havang the upper en'd of its' axis inclinedlii o'r- --ward '(in' the: directionz-theevehi'cle moves) in '1 l-II"-\V 1l h hhei lOIlgltu-dlnal Q XlQ O'E- the Vehicle nea ns to vary the" inclination oftheaxis a turret mounted onrthe'pedestal' and rotata lole thereon about the inclined axis, a pole pivotally mounted onl the turret tension of the spring.

2. The combination .Wlllll a vehicle of a.

trolley base provided with a pedestal having the upper end of its axis inclined torward, a turret mounted on the pedestal and rotatable thereon about the inclined axis, a pole pivotally mounted on the turret to swing in a substantially vertical plane, a current collector mounted on the pole to engage a conductor, a spring to urge the pole to rise and means to vary the tension oi: the spring.

8. The combination with a vehicle of a trolley base provided with a pedestal having the upper end of the axis inclined ton ward, means to vary the inclination of the axis, a turret mounted on the pedestal and rotatable thereon about the axis, a pole pivotally mounted on the turret to swing in a substantially vertical plane, a current collector mounted on the pole to engage a conductor and a spring to urge the pole to rise.

4. The combination with a vehicle of a trolley base provided with a pedestal having the upper end of its. axis inclined forward, a turret mounted on the pedestal and rotatable, thereon about the inclined axis, a pole pivotally mounted on the turret to swing in a substantially vertical plane, a current collector mounted on the pole and Ineans'urging the pole to move about the pivotal poin I 5. The combination with a vehicle of a trolley base provided with a pedestal having the upper end of its axis inclined in a forward direction, a turret mounted on the pedestal and rotatable thereon about the inclined axis, a pole mounted on the turret and a current collector mounted on the pole to engage a conductor.

6. The combination with a vehicle of a. trolley base provided with a pedestal having the upper end of its axis inclined forward, means to vary the inclination of the axis, a turret mounted on the pedestal and rotatable thereon about the inclined axis, a pole mounted on the turret and a current collector mounted on the pole to engage a conductor.

7. The combination with a vehicle of a trolley base mounted thereon comprising a current collector to engage a conductor, a member to which the collector is secured, means to which the member is pivotally attached for movement in a substantially vertical plane; said means being mounted for rotation about an axis having its upper end enclined in a forward direction relative to the vehicle roof.

8. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector to engage a conductor, supporting means to which the collector is mounted and means "for securing the collector and its supporting means to the vehicle whereby the collector and its supporting means will rotate about an axis having its upper end inclined in a forward direction relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle.

9. The combination with a vehicle of a trolley base secured thereto and rotatable about an axis having its upper end inclined in the direction of travel of the vehicle.

10. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector and its supporting means, and means for mounting the supporting means on a vehicle to permit the pole to rotate about an axis parallel to a vertical longitudinal plane and having its; uper end inclined in the direction of travel of the vehicle.

11. The combination with avehicle of a current collector and its supporting means, means for mounting the supporting means on a vehicle to permit the pole to rotate about an axis parallel to a vertical longitudinal plane and having its upper end inclined in the direction of travel of the vehicle and means to vary the forward inclination of the axis.

12. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector, a support for the collector arranged to swing laterally about an axis from a trailing position to a leading position with respect to the direction of travel of the vehicle, means operating automatically to move the support and'collector from a trailing to a leading position and means for varying at will the degree of said moving means.

13. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector, and a support for the col lector adapted to swing laterally from a longitudinal axis of the vehicle and means tends ing to move the support and collector about an axis in a lateral direction and in the direction of motion of the vehicle. 1a. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector and a support for the collector adapted to swing laterally about an axis and means whereby gravity acting on the support and collector will swing the sup port and collector about the axis in the lateral direction and in thedirection of travel of the vehicle.

15. The combination with a vehicle of a trolley base provided with a pole and a current collector thereon to engage a conductor, the pole arranged to rotate about an inclined axis, the inclination of the axis being so arranged that the force of gravity acting upon the moving parts will cause the pole and collector to rotate about the axis and in the direction of travel of the vehicle.

16. The combination with a vehicle of a combined current collector and trolley basehaving its axis of rotation so arranged that. the center of gravity of the parts is con-' stantly changed as the parts rotate about the axis and operating to move'the collector about the axis of rotation from a trailing position to a leading position withrespect to the direction of travel of the vehicle.

17. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector to engage a conductor, a supporting arm to which the collector is attached, means for securing the arm to the vehicle, means to permit the arm to swing about an axis in a vertical plane, means to ley base provided with a current collector and arm to support same, means for securlng the arm to the vehicle to permit the arm to move in a vertical plane and swing laterally relative to the vehicle about an axis, means urging the arm to move upward, the axis so arranged as to create two forces tending to swing the arm and conductor about the axis and in the direction of normal motion of the vehicle one force acting when the vehiclev is moving or stationary and the other force acting to resist the arm swinging from a position to one side of the vehicle to a position in line with the vehicle. 7

19. The combination with a vehicle of a current collector, a support for the collector, means for securing the support to the vehicle of thevehi cleu such that the support will rotate laterally to the vehicle about an inclined axis having its upper end inclined in the direction, in which the vehicle moves. V t I l 20. .The combination with a vehicle of a rotatable trolley base, arm and current co l-j lector and means'for inclining the axis of clined in the direction inwhich the vehicle travels. 1

.21. The combination with a vehicle of a rotatable trolley base, arm and current .55 collector, and means for creating a force 1 tending to rotate the. parts about bits f axis in the direction in which the Vehicle moves, the said forceincreasing. as

'60 line with the direction of travel to a point: where the arm is at right angles to the direction of travel oii the vehicle;

the arm moves from a trailingfposition'in '22; The combination with a vehicle of a i.

current collector, a support for the collector arranged to swing laterally about an axis from a trailing position to a-leadingposi I tion with-respectto the direction'of travel of the vehicle, means operating automatically to move the support and collector from a-- trailing to .aleading position; I

23. The combination with "avehicle of a trolley base secured thereto and rotatableby' i the force ofgravity about an axis having its upper end inclined in the direction: of travel The combination with avehicle and'a current collecting" device of interposed I mechanism operated by a shifting of the 0611's ter of gravity tending to move the'collector from a longitudinal trailing "position to a longitudinal leading position with respect to. the direction of travel or" the vehicle' In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature.

ELLIS s LINCOLN.

50 a rotation withthe upper endo'f the axis in-f T 

